Committee backs deputy Speaker elections

The House of Commons deputy Speakers should be elected by the whole House in a way that ensures party balance, according to an influential group of MPs. Skip related content

The procedure committee has backed calls from Speaker John Bercow to reform the current system, whereby his three deputies are apppointed "as a result of consultation between the usual channels".

Convention states that the Speaker's team "should show a balance between government and opposition benches, that the team should reflect the gender balance within the House, that the candidate is likely to be acceptable to the House as a whole and that the Speaker has no objection to him or her".

In July the Speaker called for reform.

He proposed that a ballot or ballots should be conducted in the House to choose one deputy Speaker from the opposition side and two from the government benches.

The procedure committee want MPs to endorse the preparation of detailed proposals for the election of the deputy Speakers.

"We will ensure that we report these proposals for decision by the House early in the next session in time to enable elections to be held at the start of the new parliament in 2010."

The committee has also proposed looking at term limits to the period of office of the Speaker and his deputies.

Once elected, deputy Speakers usually remain in office until the end of the Parliament unless their post becomes vacant through death, resignation or elevation to the role of Speaker.

Although by convention the panel should demonstrate a party balance, there is no precedent for any deputy to stand down to ensure the restoration of that balance following the election of a new Speaker.

The 2002 Procedure Committee, whilst strongly endorsing the principle of balance, considered that in the circumstances where the House chose a Speaker from one party at a time when two of the three sitting deputy Speakers were also members of that party, "it would be unfair to expect a deputy Speaker to resign merely to re-balance the team".

The current deputy Speakers are Conservatives Sir Michael Lord (pictured) and Sir Alan Haselhurst and Labour's Sylvia Heal.